I would like to know when to do protection training for an american bulldog? is it safe for everyone?

my american bulldog is 5months and I would like to know when should he start protection training? and I have a 3 year old kid would it be ok and not get aggresive towards the kid and others? I just want it to protect me if someone attacks or breaks in the home or when I just tell him to go attack. Hes really nice and I dont want him to become aggresive .

I feel that this behavior comes natrually to dogs, and that they will know when to bark at strangers, and how to protect their house and their family if its ever in danger. If you feel he might become agressive, dont train him, theres no need.

" or when I just tell him to go attack"Hahahaha that ought to be good.. Wonder what the cops, and your insurance company will think about this kind of question.. just sending your dog to attack? How you figure that's a good idea ? You know nothing about dogs, let alone protection training.. Leave it to those who have some brain matter.. You my friend should stick to ' sit '' down '' off ' and ' come ' You aren't bright enough to handle a protection trained dog.

I don't think that you really need to train your dog to protect you, and you are much better off just teaching him to be a well behaved dog. With American bulldogs, if you treat them well and gain their loyalty and trust, and someone attacks you, they will most likely come to your defense without being told to, and will probably also stop attacking immediately if you call them. With a young child, you want to be very careful about encouraging any sort of aggresive behavior, especially when that will come naturally to a well raised dog without any training, should the need arise. You should enroll your dog in obedience classes, you should never hit your dog, or yell at it or give it any reason not to trust you completely. You should never leave your child alone with the dog and teach your child that it is never okay to hit the dog, pull on it's tail or ears, put his face close to the dogs or do anything to tease or irritate the dog, especially don't let your child hit your dog in the face, even playing. Don't let your puppy 'mouth' you or your child, or put his paws on you, even when playing. If the puppy puts his mouth on you or jumps up against you, stop playing with him and walk away from him immediately. He will learn that doing this means the fun stops. Socialise your dog a lot with other, friendly people and dogs to help prevent aggression, never allow anyone to tease, slap, scare, startle, hit or discipline him, and above all else, find a good *obedience* training class and some good books about the breed, or about bully breeds in general and the best ways to train them. Make sure you know as much as possible about how to handle a dog so as to prevent any aggressive behavior being learned.American bulldogs don't have to be trained to protect a family that has always treated them well and been good to them, they do it because they love their family and it comes naturally, no matter how gently they were raised. A well raised dog is safest to have around a child and will still protect you, your home and your family.I have an American bulldog, too, nine months old, and he is a very sweet dog, I wouldn't want that to change for anything, but I have been reading up on the breed a lot. Almost everything I have read makes mention of the fact that these dogs naturally are protective of their owners and extremely loyal by nature, no training needed, and they can still be very friendly dogs as well.

It doesn't sound like a good idea to either protection train your American bulldog or to rely on your dog for protection.People with highly trained dogs will tell you that the dog is only there to buy them enough time to draw a gun or make an escape. If you are worried about your security, buy better locks for your doors, motion detectors and some surveillance cameras.I wouldn't be surprised if your dog grows up to be naturally protective of the family, but to protection train him could be disastrous.

Wow, there's much more to it than that! You don't tell a dog to attack and expect them to do it - you certainly don't train them to! A true protection dog will actually NOT attack a burglar, but would actually drive it away or hold it back long enough for YOU to call the police and get away from the scene quickly. A true protection dog would only attack when told by YOU, and would let go just as quickly.That requires intensive, and expensive, training for both you and the dog. Chances are your dog may not even be able to do it - i believe that most trainers will test you and the dog first before taking you into a program. They generally look for high levels of regular obedience as well as a natural "want" to do well for the owner. I don't know if general aggression is tolerated - i would hope not since regular aggression should not be encouraged, and this type of training is NOT aggression training.A poorly (or home) trained protection dog can become aggressive to the handler, the family, and literally anyone coming in the house or walking by them. Because the owner didn't know how to control them and teach them properly, they've skipped the "protective" part as well as the "obeying" part and jumped right to "bite mode."For example, if you've ever watched It's Me or the Dog on Animal Planet - Victoria was called in to correct the behavior of a similar breed bought for protection/companion purposes that just started attacking visitors (including the persons parents) due to poor training. I'll try to find the episode for you. But the main point is - enjoy a happy and loving dog and invest in something a little less apt to become dangerous.

At this age the first step is regular obedience which will be REQUIRED by any ethical protection (schzhund) trainer. You are breaking the "don't bite people" inhibition and you HAVE to have a good "listen to handler" or the dog can become a hazard- one of the things a protection trained dog has to know is "stop" (if this is well taught they are generally LESS dangerous than an untrained dog) HOWEVER if you think you can "just tell the dog to go attack" you have a incorrect assumption of protection work - the dog works WITH the handler IE: dog grab gun arm - police officer come in grab gun & cuff criminal - they can't do much alone! looking at the dog to protect you puts him in the leader position & THAT mindset can make him dangerous....